0.1 Diversity harnessing questions, answers, and usage (sample set  (Page 4/4)

Communication

Cell phones and the Internet have not always been around, nor are they always the preferred choice of communication today. Name a situation (past or present) where two or more people must communicate where simple voice or Internet communication is not possible. How have they solved this difficulty in communication?

Multiple student responses

• A situation that I've experienced where it was preferred and pretty much necessary was at the place where I work, which is a record label. We are very near the release of a new album of one our bands and we received the first shipment of vinyl that we're distributing. Because vinyl is such a special experience for music lovers and a very textured media form, we all like listening to new vinyl together as a company in the same room to listen to any flaws in the vinyl. It's hard to judge the sound quality via video conferencing and sounds completely different than the digital version.
• In the past, distance was the major obstacle that prevented people from keeping in touch. If anything, you has to utilize transportation to decrease this distanceand so you could talk face to face. Thanks to Alexander Graham Bell and the use of wires, people were able to fix this.
• In the absence of electronic communication, people must communicate through other means. Physical mail, messengers, or seeing the individual in person are easy ways(though perhaps not so easy as using technology) to communicate. A friend of mine doesn't own a cell phone, so I had to go knock on his door if I wanted to talk tohim.
• In WWI there was only morse code between military officers and personell.
• People have held meetings. This is still a common practice in businesses, communities, and schools.
• In the past there was no internet nor a simple way to communicate with people far away or in another town. In order to communicate they would send letters through mail.
• One of the most notable examples of communication without voice or Internet availability is Morse code. In order to transmit messages without the use ofvoice communication, messages are encoded into a series of lights, clicks, or tones. Morse code is usually transmitted via radio and requires the use of a"key" to form the message and a translator to decode it on the receiving line. The concept of coding and decoding messages is the crux of the solution todeveloping alternate forms of communication.
• When my dad was in college, there is no telephone in his hometown, if he wanted to communicate with his family, he would write a letter to them. It always took twoweeks or more to reach. Or if there was a emergency, he could telegraph. Comparedto letters, it was much quicker but it still needed around 2 days.
• Not sure about the context, but my first answer would be by writing and traditional mail, sounding some kind of signal whether it be by sound or lightdisplay (such as smoke from a fire or a bell being struck), telegraph, or other third-party communication. Cell phones and the Internet have solved suchproblems by making individual communication completely portable and geographically pervasive. There are cell towers all over the globe now, and evenremote reaches can have areas where one can receive a cell phone signal making communication the rule rather than the exception.

Summary of answers

Digital information

There are many ways to digitize information. For example, I can digitize the approximate flavor of the honey I harvest from my honeybees. Honey is made from many different flowers. In Illinois, major sources include:

1. Alfalfa - Medicago sativa
2. Dandelion - Taraxacum officinale
3. Soybean - Glycine max
4. Sweetclovers, Melilotus species
5. White sweetclover-Melilotits alba
6. Yellow sweetclover - Melilotus officinalis
7. True clovers, Trifolium species
8. Alsike clover - Trifolium hybridum
9. Ladino - Trifolium repens
10. Red clover - Trifolium pratense
11. White Dutch - Trifolium repens

I can digitize the flavor of my honey by asking the questions:

1. Was alfalfa in bloom during the honey flow? Yes/No
2. Was dandelion in bloom during the honey flow? Yes/No
3. etc...

The answers to my question would produce a 11-bit binary file to roughly describe the flavor my honey. Demonstrate how you can “digitize” something in your life.

Student response "a"

• Back 001
• Chest 010
• Arms 100
• Legs 011
• Shoulders 110
• Cardiovascular Exercises 111
• Lat-pull downs 0001
• Rows 0010
• Pull-ups 0100
• flat bench 1000
• incline bench 0011
• push-ups 0111
• etc...

Student response "b"